Daily Archives: February 17, 2013

Welcome to the newest slot on my blog, the Sunday night Novel Nights In where I bring you guests’ novels in their entirety over a maximum of ten weeks. Tonight’s is the seventh instalment of the first novel in this series and features the first section of Book 3 (of three) of a novel by literary author, poet and intervieweeRose Mary Boehm.

For shorter pieces I would run the story then talk more about it afterwards but because this is a longer post (12,016 words), here is an introduction to Rose then the seventh part of her novel…

A German-born UK national, Rose Mary Boehm now lives and works in Lima, Peru. Two novels (‘Coming Up For Air’ and the follow-up ‘The Telling’) have been published in the UK, as well as a poetry collection (‘Tangents’). Her latest poems have appeared, or are forthcoming, in US poetry reviews. Among others: Toe Good Poetry, Poetry Breakfast, Burning Word, Muddy River Review, Pale Horse Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Other Rooms, Requiem Magazine, Full of Crow, Poetry Quarterly, Punchnel’s, Verse Wisconsin, Naugatuck Poetry Review (contest semi-finalist), Avatar…

A young girl’s struggle to take control of her life – click to read Book I: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Book 2: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. If you don’t want to wait the 10 weeks for the whole story, you can purchase Coming Up for Air at Amazon.com (just $2.95) Amazon.co.uk (only £1.87). The rest of the ‘adventures of Annie’ can be read in THE TELLING.

***

Book III: Spitting against the Wind (part 1)

42

I am slowly walking back towards the large room where so many people are typing, shouting into telephones and at each other, where machines clang and clatter, and where I have a small desk and a typewriter. I am still not quite sure what they expect of me and who exactly my boss is. Up to now they are all using me to run errands, make coffee or to tease me mercilessly. Between copy boy and cub reporter … but I’ll show them. Just because I am the first girl they have ever had in here, that doesn’t mean they can ignore that I have a brain! I’ll show them. But I need a break to show what I can do. There must be something I can do. It won’t happen until I make it happen…

The moment I open the door they all look up from whatever they are doing and stare at me. Then they hoot with laughter, and some slap their thighs. Yes, alright, I suppose I deserve this one. But I feel deeply embarrassed and stupid. How could I possible fall for this?

*

One of the reporters had sent me down to the typesetters to bring him back a Rasterpunkt – a matrix dot – one of the dots that make up a newsprint black and white half-tone picture, the same dots that are now counted to indicate resolution, as in, for example 300 dpi. This was one of the oldest jokes regularly inflicted on the latest recruits to the press room, and I dutifully walked all the way downstairs to the typesetters and asked for one. They had been warned by the jokers upstairs and had been ready for me. One of them made quite a performance out of putting something very small I couldn’t see (he used tweezers) into a relatively big box and handed it to me saying that I must handle it with great care. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. That at least was the moment when I should have tweaked. But no. I was too eager to please, too determined to make this work. I had promised myself that I’d run every errand, make every coffee, take any shit with a smile to make them like me and give me that chance I so craved.

Especially the editor-in-chief was intimidating. His office was halfway up the stairs. From there he could more or less control the editing room. He kept his door open and there was no passing his floor without being seen by ‘the führer’. Ernst Führing seemed old to me then, but he must have been a young man of around 36, built like an American football player. Weary brown eyes looked out from a frame of thick, rather feminine eyelashes, he had a large, handsome face, and his dark curly hair gave him a slightly dishevelled appearance. He only ever wore white shirts, open at the neck, his tie knot pulled down, the sleeves rolled up until his elbows. I usually saw him sitting behind his huge desk, either speaking like machine-gun fire into the black telephone, or ‘parking’ it between chin and pulled up shoulder when he was looking for some papers. When I brought him material to sign off he would normally ask me to wait and then he’d dump even more papers and photos into my arms with delivery instructions. Standing he must have been around 1.80 m but one saw the beginnings of a belly, and since his trousers where usually just belted below that slight protuberance, they took on a life of their own, cascading down to his highly polished shoes, the turn-ups at the back of the trouser legs disappearing beneath them.

He often stopped me when I was on my way up to the art department or asked in the press room for me to run an errand. Every time I was near him he’d make some comment, some sexual insinuation, some joke I didn’t get, or indicate that I should be doing something different, something that women do. I began to dread my contacts with ‘the führer’, even though he never made a pass, for which I was grateful.

The in-house photo reporter, Wald Radetzki, had quite some reputation. And I was fascinated by his urbanity. It wasn’t just that his name turned up on most news pages of the paper, he also photographed local society and was more than once the object of other photographers when he accompanied some of the famous (and the infamous) women to various events.

To everyone here he was just Radetzki, and when I first met him on the stairs, I felt considerable awe and worried immediately that I may have a shiny nose. The Radetzki I knew from photographs was far less impressive than the real thing. Blinded by my admiration for his local notoriety, I didn’t see a man of already middle years, with a lived-in, somewhat sloppily designed and cruel face, a man who desperately wanted to stay young by donning ‘beatnik uniform’: black tight trousers, black roll-neck sweater, black leather jacket and black leather cap, his cameras slung carelessly over his shoulder; I only saw what I wanted to see: an admittedly older but sexy male, tall, slim, and handsome.

I was on one of my never-ending errands from the pressroom down to the printers, just passing the dark room which I’d never seen open, when Radetzki came up the stairs, taking two steps at the time. He looked up.

“Hey, gorgeous, and where did they hide you? What, are you on your way to me? Lovely surprise.”

*

I stand still, desperately wanting to be the most attractive woman on earth, thinking Rita Hayworth, definitely not Doris Day. But all I can come out with is, “Oh, hi, I am the new trainee.”

“Well, well, well … turn around, would you? Let me check you out!”

I know I blush and I am angry with myself. I also hate the fact that I have absolutely nothing witty to say to this apparition. While he scares me a bit, he is also incredibly attractive in a forbidden sort of way. I know immediately that Mother wouldn’t approve of me being even near this man. That alone makes him irresistible. Not knowing what to do, I smile what I hope is a seductive smile and do a very fast turn on one foot, losing my balance just a little on the small step. Radetzki immediately reaches up and puts two strong hands on my hips: “Wow, little treasure, easy… mind you, you’re welcome to fall!” and he lets go.

“We’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. By the way, what’s your name? … Annemarie? That’s Anne for short, surely … Must dash, have just come from an assignment and they’ll want the photos like yesterday … until soon. I’ll make sure of it.”

He takes out some keys, opens the darkroom and disappears into it. Shuts the door behind himself. My legs are like jelly. I can barely continue my descent down to the basement. I feel his hands on my hips and I feel my insides knotting up.

The reason for this blog post is that Rose’s novel concludes on Sunday 3rd March, and mine on the 23rd March, and would like to give other authors the opportunity of sharing their novels with my visitors (200-500 a day).

Why did I title this ‘self-published / indie novelists’? Because invariably you can do what you like with your novels if you self-publish. When there’s a publisher involved it becomes more complicated. Of course if your publisher is willing to let you share your novel with the world (yes, WordPress provides a lovely coloured globe with their stats) then that’s great, but I’d need them to email me and tell me that it’s OK.

So, what do you need to do? In the first instance, onlyemail me the synopsis (inc. word count of your <100,000-word novel or 30K+ novella), the first chapter and purchase links, and I’ll come back to you. Please ensure that all text is in black (with the exception of website links) and ideally no indentation. Thank you.

I welcome any genre of fiction but prefer family-friendly content. Some swearing and mild violence is acceptable as I can put a warning at the beginning of the post.

The final proviso is that your novel must be finished and available for purchase (not free) as the links will be included in every instalment. If a reader doesn’t want to wait the (up to) ten weeks to read the whole book, they can go off and buy it (and they have been).

NB. The instalments won’t necessarily be one chapter each but up to 10,000 words, hence the 10-week 100,000-word limit.

So, whilst for some readers it will be giving your book away for free (we write to be read anyway, don’t we?) it’s also an opportunity to gain extra sales.

Part 7 (of 9) of Rose’s book follows in an hour so I hope you stay and read it (the previous instalments can be read via links on the Novel Nights In page) and I look forward to hearing from you.

Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

Welcome to the six hundred and forty-sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with paranormal romance author TL Spencer. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

TL: My full name is Terri-Louise Spencer. I’m a Leo baby, born in August 1992 and I live in the lovely seaside town of Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire. At the age of eleven I was diagnosed with epilepsy and turned to my love of writing as a way to cope.

Morgen: I’m an August Leo too but 25 years older than you. 😦 What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

TL: I am a romantic with a love of the paranormal. Most of my stories tend to be of that genre. Anything remotely weird and I’m there.

Morgen: Oh me too. The quirkier the better. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?

Morgen: Are your books available as eBooks? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?

TL:My book is only available as an eBook. I loved the entire process, from editing, proofing, cover design. It was all so intriguing; everybody worked like demons to get things done. I read both eBooks and printed; eBooks are a lot less bulky.

Morgen: I have 400+ books on my iPad. I love it. Do you have a favourite of your characters? If your book were to be made into a film, whom would you have as the leading actor/s?

Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!